Contemporary Commentary for the 21st Century by Wallace Ford

Daily Archives: March 7, 2019

The line of Democrats seeking the nomination so that they can unseat Donald Trump is getting to be so long that one wonders if a new club or restaurant is opening somewhere soon. The fear and loathing that are driving these candidates onto the field of battle with He Who Shall Not Be Named provides the will and drive to vanquish the current occupant of the White House. September 7, 2020 will mark Labor Day and the official start of the presidential campaign between the Democratic and Republican nominees – along with any Nader wannabees like Howard Schultz. But it can be argued that the battle has already begun as the Democrats adopt the tactics that were used to topple King Kong.

For those who have followed Donald Trump through his checkered and deeply flawed career and his gossamer litany of largely fake, false and faux achievements, it is more than amazing that he has become this larger than life character has sucked up the oxygen of a seemingly moribund Republican Party while scrambling all rational discussion with his fire hose stream of lies, insults and sheer madness.

Nevertheless, Trump is the President of the United States and anyone who believes that he cannot be reelected should take a seat next to President Hillary Clinton or President Jeb Bush or………you get the idea. Trump is worthy of revulsion, disgust and derision, but he should never be ignored or underestimated. A clear-eyed vision of the American political landscape reveals that as disastrous as a second Trump presidency might be, his reelection is possible if not probable. These are odds that favor Trump in the bar fight that will be the 2020 presidential election.

And that is why the end of the Trump’s presidency calls for Democrats promoting a King Kong strategy when going after him. And this being a reference to the long line of movies chronicling the tragic capture and downfall of the Great Ape, beginning with the version starring Fay Wray in 1933, we can look at an analogy for the times in which we live.

One recalls the climactic scene in “King Kong” when after raging through the streets of New York City, Kong climbs the Empire State Building (carrying Fay Wray on his way up). It is at this point that he is attacked by airplanes that resembled a cloud of mosquitoes. No one plane could shoot Kong down, but by relentlessly attacking him from all angles, the Great Ape grows increasingly frustrated and fatigued and ends up falling to his death as he succumbs to his multiple minor wounds.

Following this analogy, it is possible to visualize the 10-20 announced and potential candidates for the Democratic nomination for president fighting among themselves and attacking each other until the bloodied and exhausted victor stumbles into the arena to take on Trump who will have had the benefit of a Republican coronation and the advantage of a bloodless nomination process. Such a scenario could easily result in another four years of Trump.

Or, the Democratic candidates and wannabees might do well to concentrate all of their fire on Donald Trump instead of each other. Let the contest be about who will be the best person to take on Trump and beat him in November of 2020.

What we know for sure is that Trump cannot help himself and will respond to each and every attack and those attacks should come every day and from every direction. Let him spend his minute attention span on responding to each and every attack every hour of every day. And just like King Kong on the Empire State Building, the daily mosquito attacks from every direction will exhaust and distract an already exhausted and distracted individual who will ultimately be sufficiently frustrated and fatigued so that he will be a weakened and diluted version of his unfortunate self.

Let the Democratic candidates declare the Democratic process a fire-free zone, in the process advocating whatever programs, strategies and visions that they might have for the American people. But under no circumstances should these candidates attack each other because whatever slings and arrows that they use will end up in the Trump arsenal in September of 2020.

It is said that free advice is worth what you pay for it. But in this case we can hope that the Democratic presidential field will listen to this advice.